study for compassion

Before painting a 40″x40″ commissioned work, I painted this study,
from a sketch I painted on a hot late summer morning of two of my
favorite barns on the road that leads to Huletts Landing, Lake George.
I painted Soul Sisters many years ago, and this time I revisited the
site, thinking about my series of paintings about the four immeasurable
minds. I thought I could learn more about compassion by painting the
space between the two buildings, and the light that fills the space between
both buildings.

As I painted, I thought about the definition I had learned: compassion
is the capacity to relieve the suffering of another person.